Dean Puchero

Name: Dean Samson Puchero

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: Senior

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Maths and physics, longboarding, jogging, weed, FPS video games, watching football

Appearance: A young Filipino man, Dean is big and strong from years of playing football, with a broad chest and shoulders, and well toned muscles in his arms and legs. He stands at 6'1", and weighs 186lbs. He's far from imposing, however; he maintains a relaxed, laid-back posture at all times, and his default facial expression is an easy going smile. Dean has an oval shaped face, with a fairly broad nose and soft brown, almond shaped eyes under bushy eyebrows that he does his best to keep trimmed and under control. His skin has a fair tan due to his heritage and his athletic pursuits, and he keeps his face clean-shaven; overall, he's considered good looking by most.

Dean has straight black hair, which he keeps good care of, using a large amount of hair products to keep it healthy and looking good. He prefers to keep it short, with the front of his hair spiked up with hair gel, swiftly getting it cut whenever it threatens to go past his ears.

The most notable part of Dean's appearance, however, is his myolectric prosthetic right arm, which he's had since a car crash robbed him of his real arm from the shoulder down two years ago. Since first getting it fitted, Dean has, mostly, become comfortable with it, but he isn't fond of removing it unless he really has to; it's one of the few things that will notably wipe the smile from his face. He also wishes the arm's colour was a closer match to his actual skin tone, as it's clearly a few shades lighter.

Comfort, rather than style, is the name of the game when it comes to Dean's wardrobe, which is almost entirely made up of t-shirts, tank tops, jeans and cargo shorts. The only exception to these are the running shorts and tracksuit bottoms he wears whenever he's out jogging. When Dean was abducted, he wore a black Nike tank top with a small Nike tick in white in the top left, a pair of tan cargo shorts, and a pair of black and lime green Nike trainers.

Biography: The only child of Jackson and Abegail Puchero, Dean has never wanted for much. The family is well-off, with Abegail working as a fitness instructor, and Jackson working as an astronomer. Their economic situation was also bolstered after Jackson's great-uncle passed away, as he left them a large amount of money in his will. Although his parents couldn't be more different to him, as Jackson's co-workers in particular comment on how serious and no-nonsense he is, Dean maintains a very positive and friendly relationship with them both. Indeed, Jackson only seems to relax when he's around his son, and the three will always eat dinner together and do other things like watch movies together.

As a child, Dean was incredibly low-maintenance; he rarely cried, and spent most of his time sleeping or playing in the garden, kicking a ball around or digging in the sand box. He seemed content with near everything that happened to him, which helped make him popular in preschool and his first few years of education, as he was very easy to get along with, happy to work and play with anybody, and willing to play whatever game was currently being played. His teachers also enjoyed his presence, as he was just as polite and friendly towards them, and did well in his studies, with a seeming natural gift for science and maths in particular.

The one negative note his teachers did have about Dean was that he seemed to lack drive and a desire to participate in class. He rarely put his hand up to answer questions, or ask any of his own, and he seemed perfectly happy to just coast through his education on his natural talents. Whilst this wasn't a huge problem, as Dean would regularly receive B to A grades, his teachers believed that he could truly excel if he put more effort into his studies. Whilst Abegail and Jackson weren't hugely concerned at first, they soon noticed that this lack of drive had seeped into Dean's every day life as well. He had few interests and little desire to join any clubs or societies at school; he much preferred to come home from school and play video games every day, either by himself or with friends. His parents tried to push him towards different activities, but Dean showed little interest in any of them.

The solution came during a Superbowl party when Dean had just entered his teenage years. He had always loved watching football with Jackson, although to his father's consternation Dean seemed to support whichever team was doing the best at the moment, rather than Jackson's beloved Tennessee Titans. For years, Dean's interest in football stemmed more from the fact that it allowed him to bond with his father than in the sport itself. However, during the party, Dean became transfixed with one of the players; he was amazed at how strong and quick he was, and how well-respected his skills made him, and he made an offhand comment about how he wanted to be like said player some day.

His parents latched onto this, and attempted to subtly push him towards this goal, suggesting he joined the school football team, as that would allow him to become just like the player he so admired. This seemed to instantly appeal to Dean, and he did so as soon as he was able to. The first few training sessions with the team were rough, as this was the first major sporting activity Dean had participated in outside of PE lessons, and he was also still developing his knowledge of football as he practiced. Dean's enthusiasm and drive to do well in the sport, however, led to him quickly growing more skilled as he went to more and more training sessions, and his laidback, easygoing nature meant he gained a quick rapport with the rest of the team.

With a goal to aim for, and a passion to succeed at it, Dean's interest in football became a catalyst for him to push himself more in other areas of his life. He started to work out and exercise outside of the team's practice sessions, in order to improve his fitness and strength. He made time to go jogging for a couple of hours each weekend and frequently after school, and started hitting the gym when he grew older. His grades also began to improve, as Dean was now actively challenging himself and paying much more attention in class, taking part in classroom discussions and group activities rather than coasting by on his natural talent. He was particularly vocal and engaged in his maths and physics classes, as these seemed to most naturally click with him; he prefers these sort of subjects, where there are right and wrong answers, rather than subjects such as English that require an interpretation of the subject matter.

As Dean grew older, his enthusiasm and constant training for the football team paid off. He went from a consistent benchwarmer to a valued starter, picking up the role of running back, as he possessed both the speed and strength required to excel in that position. With his help, George Hunter's football team picked up numerous trophies and victories, and Dean seriously began to consider a future in the sport. He began to research sports scholarships and which colleges offered them, with the full support of his parents, who were delighted and proud that Dean had found something he was truly invested in.

Due to his friendly and laid-back personality, as well as the fact he had plenty of friends on both the football team and from his various classes, Dean was, and still is, very popular. He would frequently get invited to parties, particularly by his teammates, and other get-togethers where, inevitably, alcohol and other party drugs could also be found. Whilst Dean ended up shying away from most drugs, as he considered the risk far greater than the reward, and was ambivalent towards alcohol, he developed quite the affinity towards weed. He enjoyed the high he got from it, and how it made him feel even more relaxed and calm than usual, and this, in conjunction with its relative safety in comparison to other drugs, meant that Dean could soon be found with weed on his person at any party or particularly large gathering of friends. He wanted other people to experience the same sensation that he so enjoyed, so he was eager to suggest or ask other people whether they wanted to try it with him. If anybody declined or seemed uncertain, however, Dean would instantly back off; he wanted to make sure that the experience of getting high was a pleasant one, not one that they felt forced into. He also made a resolution to only get high at parties and with friends, and never at home, as the risk of getting caught by his parents was too great. He's managed to hide his stash from them so far, by keeping it hidden at the very back of a drawer in his room that his parents have no reason to look into.

Everything seemed to be lining up perfectly for Dean, with an interest he loved and was planning to pursue full time, but, two years ago, tragedy struck. Driving too fast in icy conditions with Dean and Abegail, Jackson hit a patch of black ice located on a sharp turn, causing the car to spin off the road and collide with a tree. Whilst Abegail was relatively unscathed, managing to escape the wreckage to call the emergency services, Dean and Jackson were both severely injured, requiring immediate medical attention as soon as they were taken to A&E. Although most of Dean's injuries were able to be dealt with, his right arm had been trapped in the wreckage and severely mangled; there was little option left aside from having to amputate it.

For several months, Dean was almost unrecognisable. Losing his arm put him in an understandable state of shock, and even though he was able to afford a myoelectric prosthetic arm thanks to the Pucheros' economic situation, which gave him much more natural and fluid movement than other options, it still took him a number of weeks to adapt to using it correctly and adjusting his movements for the change in weight on his right side.

What was even harder for Dean to adjust to and accept was the fact that his career in football was completely over. He spent months in a state of depression, his drive and enthusiasm buried under the crushing weight of his dream being over. His exercise and workout regimes slipped drastically, and he found himself prone to stress eating, resulting in his health and fitness quickly becoming poor. His grades at school slowly started to drop, and he would spend most weekends in bed with the curtains drawn, playing video games or sleeping. His parents weren't in much of a state to help either; Jackson was in a similarly depressed state whenever he wasn't at work, as he blamed himself for the accident, and Abegail was upset and destressed, as she couldn't find a way to try and console her husband and son.

Dean turned to weed as his main way of calming down and stopping himself from stressing out, breaking his own resolution in the process and smoking in his room. He still managed to avoid his parents finding out, but this was more down to sheer good fortune combined with their own poor mental states more than anything. To this day, Dean still relies on weed as his main way of calming down and preventing himself from panicking on the rare occasions that he stresses out particularly badly. He buys his marijuana from the older brother of one of his school friends; he can afford this habit mostly through his family's wealth, but he also works part-time as a shelf stacker at a local supermarket. Since recovering from his accident, Dean has once again stopped using the drug at home, and his parents are still unaware of his weed usage, especially now that he's older and they respect his privacy even more.

Time passed, and slowly, but surely, Dean began to recover and return to his old self. He realised that he couldn't do anything to change what had already happened with the loss of his arm, and staying in bed all day was only perpetuating his cycle of depression. He started to get back into the swing of exercising, steadily resuming his jogging and trips to the gym, starting off by going once a week, then twice a week, before eventually working out every single day again. Despite being unable to play himself, Dean realised he was still very much invested and attached to the school's football team, and made it his goal to watch as many of the team's games as he could. He also helps out with the team during their practice sessions from time to time, and remains on excellent terms with the majority of his old teammates.

Although Dean felt like most avenues of sport had been shut off to him, he was still itching for other ways to keep active, and to attain the sort of rush he had gotten from playing football, even outside of his exercising and jogging. The answer to this problem was given to him, in the form of a longboard, a Christmas present from his grandmother. It didn't take long for Dean to become hooked to his new board; he found it easy to control and use, thanks to his strong leg muscles, and he much preferred the experience of travelling on a longboard to walking, enjoying the faster speed and the wind rushing through his hair. He uses it to travel almost everywhere around Chattanooga, the exceptions being any locations that forbid skateboarding; Dean figures that it's not worth the hassle of explaining to people the difference between the two.

Dean remains popular at school with a large portion of his classmates; he's seen by most as an incredibly relaxed, friendly and mellow person, easy to talk to and hang out with. Although he lost a few friends after his amputation due to his depressive state, which Dean holds no grudges about, most of them remained concerned and supportive throughout. The majority of his friends are within the popular crowd, his old teammates and other people he hangs out with at parties and the like, but he has friends in a number of different circles as well. He remains skilled at both maths and physics, and is close with a number of people from those classes; he's also done some tutoring on the subject, and so has formed bonds with a couple of his peers that way. Dean is also a member of the school's gaming club, thanks to his interest in FPS video games, and so has friends from there as well, although he finds a number of his fellow members too intense and abrasive for his liking. Dean's favourite games are from the Call of Duty series, although he also plays a decent amount of Destiny and Overwatch as well.

For the most part, Dean has recovered mentally from the accident, as have Jackson and Abegail. He no longer struggles to use his prosthetic arm, and barely notices the difference between his two arms. He does wish, however, that the colour of it would better match his own skin tone, as it makes it impossible to ever truly forget it's prosthetic. Removing the arm also has a tendency to make him think of both the accident and of the fact that he's unable to play football again, and so only does so when it's absolutely necessary. Although it still does pain him that he's not able to physically participate, Dean remains a football fanatic, and wants to stay involved with the sport as much as possible. He's currently debating whether looking into other areas of football, such as coaching, psychology or journalism, would be a good fit for him, once he graduates.

Dean does well at school across the board, with As and Bs making up his grades. His only regular Cs come from his English classes, but he's not particularly perturbed by these, as he's never considered the creative arts to be his calling in life. His best classes remain his maths and physics classes, and he is on good terms with his teachers. Dean's other plans, after graduating, are to either study physics or maths at college; at present, he's still leaning more towards a football related area, but he's still very much undecided on his final choice.

Advantages: Dean is a very affable and laid-back guy; he makes friends and allies easily, and gets along with most people. He's got plenty of friends from school already, including most members of the football team, as he still remains on amicable terms with most of them. He's in very good shape still, with both strength and stamina on his side. He's proven he can work well in a team, thanks to his time playing football and from group work in class. His prosthetic arm may actually provide more benefits than problems; any damage it takes, whilst likely putting it out of commission, will not have the chance to cause injury or death through infection.

Disadvantages: On the other hand, whilst an injured arm could still be fixed and usable with first-aid, if Dean's prosthetic arm gets too badly damaged he will have no way of fixing it on the island. His normally placid and laid-back nature could potentially backfire, causing others to become suspicious or believe he's not taking things seriously, and he might not tackle situations as urgently as he should. He has something of a reliance on weed to calm himself down when things get particularly stressful, and without it, he could easily find himself in a bad mental state.

'The above biography is as written by Pippi. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Dean, in chronological order.

The Past:
 * Star Party

V7 Pregame:
 * Generation Loss
 * The Frog Prince

Prom:
 * Just Launch Me Into The Freaking Sun Already
 * Luster

V7 Meanwhile:
 * Spirit Phone
 * The Angel of the Odd

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Dean Puchero. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''